Yamamoto Tsunetomo - Life Quotes

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Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
As long as people overlook matters, then inferiors can, without any fear, lead an easy and peaceful life.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. There will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
If a warrior is not unattached to life and death, he will be of no use whatsoever. The saying that All abilities come from one mind sounds as though it has to do with sentient matters, but it is in fact a matter of being unattached to life and death. With such non-attachment one can accomplish any feat.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai: if by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, one is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. his whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
You cannot tell whether a person is good or bad by his vicissitudes in life. Good and bad fortune are matters of fate.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
It is a principle of the art of war that one should simply lay down his life and strike. If one's opponent also does the same, it is a even match. Defeating one's opponent is then a matter of faith and destiny.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
When confronted with two alternatives, life and death, one is to choose death without hesitation.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase, "Form is emptiness." That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase, "Emptiness is form." One should not think that these are two seperate things.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo